Christmas Cookies
by thatpersonwhoisthatperson
Summary: Just a bit of humorous Holiday fluff. Tony and Pepper bake Christmas cookies. Merry Christmas everyone!


**Note: I honestly couldn't resist. ;) My muse was indeed stricken again when my mother darling asked me to come bake Christmas cookies with her and my brother. I actually had a lot of fun writing this, so I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I can honestly say that I don't own IM, but I do own my plot! If it's even considered a plot. XD**

Pepper Potts stared at her boss, her face contorted into an expression of disbelief and minor confusion.

"You want to bake Christmas cookies?" she asked slowly.

"Uh huh," Tony answered, then smiled. "I think we should make it a tradition, Potts. You have baked before, haven't you?"

"In case you've forgotten, I make you breakfast half the time."

"That settles it then," he said standing up. "Grab an apron, Miss Potts, let's get cooking."

Amused, Pepper followed a very anxious Tony Stark into the large kitchen. _This should be interesting._

00000

Tony decided that—especially from his current position—Pepper looked cute as she rolled the dough, with bits of flour clinging to the loose ends of her ponytail. She would switch between patiently kneading the dough and flattening it out with long, smooth strokes every so often, until finally Pepper felt that it was ready to be cut out. At this point, Tony was bouncing in his chair with anticipation—this process had taken approximately fifteen minutes, and waiting that long for something he hadn't done in a while was not up his alley.

"Are you done _now_?" Tony asked impatiently.

"Yes." Pepper's lip quirked up a little to the side. "Impatient much?"

"Extremely, knowing that we're making something edible," he replied, and Pepper rolled her eyes. She opened one of the many drawers and eventually pulled out a large bag of cookie cutters.

"Where'd all those come from? Unless you make cookies every year without me." Tony glared playfully at Pepper, who sighed and told him she actually _did_ because of that charity Christmas party each year. Tony frowned, not remembering that particular party (there were a lot to remember this time of year), but shrugged it off and turned back to the large piece of cookie dough in front of them.

"Now, take a cutter, wiggle it around a little in the dough, and then place it on the tray. Careful, they might break easily," Pepper instructed him, then dumped the contents of the plastic bag onto the counter. Tony snatched up a star shaped cutter and placed it smack in the middle of the dough.

"No, not like that! Then we have to roll it all up again!" Pepper chided, then picked up a holly and molded it into one corner of the dough. "Try to stay near the ends, and work your way towards the middle."

Tony held up his hands in mock offense and re-did the star. He roughly poked the dough out of the cutter; it then proceeded to break in half.

"Oops," he said, and Pepper sighed.

"This is going to take a while," she muttered.

00000

Three full cookie sheets later, Pepper was cleaning up and Tony was poised at the oven, peering inside the glass and watching as the cookies baked.

He glanced up to check the timer for the fourth time, then retreating back into position when he discovered there was still a good three minutes left on the second batch. Pepper just smiled and shook her head, getting ready to wash off the plastic dough board when Tony suddenly said:

"Wait! I need to make a special cookie."

Pepper raised her eyebrows and repeated, "A special cookie, Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, I almost forgot!" he cried and eagerly grabbed the remaining dough from her hands, ignoring her feeble protest, and began to knead and roll the dough out accordingly. From the looks of it, Pepper concluded that "special cookie" meant one homemade, without the cutters.

Tony worked for a few minutes more, and then: "Ta da! Look, Potts, I made Iron Man!"

Pepper squinted at the dough. "It doesn't really resemble the suit so much..."

"That's because it's not decorated yet; and sure it does, look!"

Tony pointed at the deformed blob of dough that was supposed to be his alter ego.

Pepper shook her head and muttered something incomprehensible, but placed the cookie onto the next tray anyway. She set the oven and walked back to the counter, where she resumed her cleaning, and Tony his observing of the cookies.

00000

About twenty five minutes later found the two sitting at the table, a piece of wax paper in front of each, piled with cookies. Assorted utensils accompanied the many bowls of different colored frosting. Pepper diligently informed Tony on how to use the spoon to apply the frosting, then to gently smooth it out using a knife. Tony nodded, snatched the spoon occupying the red frosting, and dumped an unnecessary amount of frosting onto a Santa cookie.

"Tony!" yelled Pepper as the frosting flowed freely off the cookie and made a puddle on the wax paper.

Tony laughed and reached for the sprinkles, but Pepper smacked his hand away.

"Ow, what was that for?" he complained, sticking his hand in his mouth to suck on it.

"That didn't hurt that bad, and you know it," she replied, giving him a glare.

"Can I use the sprinkles or what?"

"Are you going to use an excessive amount?" Pepper challenged.

"That depends." _Smack. _"Okay, okay, no, just a little."

She smirked. "Good. But wash your hands first, they've been in your mouth."

Tony did so and returned to the table to finish the frosting. By this time, Pepper had three cookies done and was working on her fourth, carefully using a toothpick to dot tiny bits of red frosting on the holly.

"You don't need to be a perfectionist, you know. It's cookies." He lightly sprinkled the green sprinkles on the over-frosted Santa.

Pepper huffed. "I am not a perfectionist."

"Mhmm. Yeah. You freaked out when I handed in that one report and I hadn't closed hardly any of my a's."

She blushed. "That was one time."

"Well, I can think of more, if you want--"

"Just frost your cookies, Mr. Stark," she interjected and began to smooth some yellow frosting onto a star.

00000

The cookies were placed on a drying rack until the frosting wasn't sticky anymore; Tony was impatient the whole time, which resulted in Pepper telling him numerous times to sit down and stop pacing. Eventually the cookies were piled in a jumbled heap atop a platter, and immediately Tony grabbed two and shoved them both in his mouth.

"That's not very safe," Pepper told him with a pointed look as she nibbled at her own cookie.

"I don't tell you how to eat your food," he quipped, and snagged his Iron Man cookie from the batch. "Look at this, it's so cool!"

"Aren't you supposed to be an engineer? You could have at least planned the schematics or something; that doesn't look a thing like Iron Man." Pepper stated once again, also grabbing another cookie and eating it deliberately.

"Psh, _I _think it does, and really Potts, I don't think you're supposed to plan out how you _eat _the thing," Tony said as he watched her eat all the ends off her star, very carefully as to not bite into the middle of the cookie just yet. She narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing as she finished off her cookie. Since Tony had finished the Iron Man cookie as well, he took about fifteen more and headed towards the living room.

"Where are you going?" Pepper asked him, who was not going to be happy if he dropped crumbs all over the carpet.

Tony smiled and said, "Basement. Before you came and hounded me upstairs to go shower and change, I was busy, you know."

"Alright then," she said, then added with sarcasm: "Thanks for helping me clean up."

Tony chuckled. "Thanks for making the cookies with me, Miss Potts," he said with one of his rare smiles that only she ever got to see.

She smiled back at him. "You're welcome, Mr. Stark."

Then Tony dashed down the stairs to his workshop, and Pepper was left to polish up the kitchen to its former state.

END.

**Note: Well, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you! Please review! =D**


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